Our President and CEO, Paul Downey, testified this week at an informational hearing for California’s Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care, emphasizing the importance of affordable senior housing and access to health and support services.

The hearing provided an opportunity for leaders in senior services organizations to share observations and boots-on-the-ground perspectives with state leaders to help them understand the types of programs and services that California seniors need. The session, part of a series of public hearings throughout the state, focused on creating or improving services which help seniors age at home.

A Unique Perspective

Besides being our President and CEO, Paul Downey serves as Chair to the California Commission on Aging. As the state’s principal advocate for older adults, the Commission’s mandate is to ensure healthy, purposeful, dignified longevity for older Californians. The Commission also advises the Legislature and federal, state and local agencies on programs and services that affect older adults. With an impressive list of credentials and many years of experience, Paul is uniquely positioned to provide valuable insight into challenges around aging and services for seniors.

Paul began by sharing that Serving Seniors was the first organization in the country to receive approval to use Section 8 vouchers for transitional housing for homeless individuals. This project-based use of Section 8 vouchers is certainly better than nothing, but we’re still unable to triage homeless seniors’ situations efficiently due to the strict rules and bureaucracy involved in the Section 8 program.

Paul illustrated the challenges and inefficiencies Serving Seniors faces as a result of the lack of housing in San Diego with this example:

“It used to take our team 90 days to help a homeless senior through the transitional housing program and place them into permanent, affordable housing. Now, because of the lack of housing units, seniors might wait up to a year for placement. We have nowhere to put them after they complete the program.”

What Can You Do?

As Serving Seniors approaches our 50th anniversary, we urge San Diego citizens to get involved and support our ever-growing senior population. If the youth of today is our future, seniors are our legacy. Encourage your City Councilmember to make affordable housing a priority today: sandiego.gov/citycouncil

10 Quick Facts About Housing in San Diego:

Current vacancy rate in San Diego: 2.73%

Average cost of a studio in San Diego: $1,529/month

Average cost of a one-bedroom apartment in San Diego: $1,640/month

Average cost of a two-bedroom apartment in San Diego: $2,000/month

Average cost of a single-room-occupancy unit (90-100 sq. ft. “hotel” room with a communal bathroom down the hall) in San Diego: $750/month

The average wait time to receive Section 8 vouchers upon approval: 10 years

Serving Seniors owns 350 units of affordable senior housing between two properties; for our 150-unit building in City Heights, there is presently a waiting list of 256 individuals. We turn one or two units per month.

In recent years, 10,000 SRO (single-room-occupancy) units have been demolished in San Diego development projects.

Keeping our senior clients in their permanent housing units requires constant support and intervention from our clinical and support teams. We have to strike a balance between landlord and social worker to keep seniors who have a history of episodic homelessness from regressing.

One in Five Seniors Has Been a Victim of Fraud

Seniors are frequently targeted and vulnerable when it comes to fraud and scams, especially those who live alone. Scammers often look for individuals with savings or who are receiving monthly Social Security checks, and often plan a scam to access those funds.

Criminals target seniors because of potential cognitive or other impairments, knowing that if the case ever makes it to a courtroom, the victim’s mental soundness and memory recall can be questioned. Unfortunately prosecuting financial fraud cases is difficult, and many financial crimes are not reported, making it even more difficult to catch scammers and shut down fraudulent operations.

When expecting packages via mail (especially during the holiday season) arrange to have them delivered to your workplace or left with a neighbor – don’t let them sit out all day and risk their being stolen by “porch pirates”

Our friends at Elsevier San Diego held a baked goods and succulent sale this week and generously chose Serving Seniors as the beneficiary of funds raised! The succulents were beautiful and varied, and assembled by the Elsevier team, and the baked goods were tantalizing.

The fall-themed bazaar was held in the lobby of Elsevier’s building on B Street and open to everyone. Elsevier employees staffed the event and shared information about Serving Seniors.

Elsevier has supported Serving Seniors for many years: at least one Elsevier employee is a past board member, and the organization’s employees regularly volunteer at the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center, serving lunch to the seniors.

We’re deeply grateful for the time, energy, funds and smiles Elsevier has donated and look forward to many more years of partnership!

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, and deliver better care.

“We help researchers make new discoveries, collaborate with their colleagues and give them the knowledge they need to find funding. We help governments and universities evaluate and improve their research strategies. We help doctors save lives, providing insight for physicians to find the right clinical answers and we support nurses and other healthcare professionals throughout their careers.”

The mere mention of hepatitis A is enough to send most San Diegans running for the nearest sink or reaching for their hand sanitizer. It’s become almost a compulsion amid one of the worst outbreaks in San Diego’s history, and County health officials have declared a local public health emergency as hospitalization and death counts continue to rise.

What is Hepatitis A?

Hepatitis A is a highly contagious liver infection caused by the hepatitis A virus. With a long incubation period, this illness is especially worrisome – signs of infection don’t manifest for between two and seven weeks after exposure, and the virus is easily transferred via close contact with an infected person and consumption of contaminated food or drink.

The virus causes inflammation of the liver and affects its ability to function, resulting in intense flu-like symptoms and jaundice. People with healthy immune systems tend to recover with no permanent damage, but for individuals with compromised immune systems, as well as the young and the old, hepatitis A can be fatal.

Reducing Risk

We’re taking this outbreak seriously and are committed to protecting our seniors, staff and anyone else who enters our facilities. Through a partnership with the County of San Diego, we’ve already provided more than 400 vaccinations, free of charge, to both seniors and employees.

According to the Mayo Clinic’s website, “Practicing good hygiene, including washing hands frequently, is one of the best ways to protect against hepatitis A.” We’ve installed hand washing stations and hand sanitizer dispensers throughout the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center, while we educate our seniors and employees about the disease and how to reduce their risk of contracting it.

An Ounce of Prevention…

The vaccine is an injection given in two parts, six months apart. We’re planning more vaccination events for the immediate future to administer more first-round shots. We’ll plan events for spring of 2018 to provide the second round of the vaccination. Following the second dose, immunity to hepatitis A lasts for 20 years or more.

If you have questions or would like more information about the measures Serving Seniors is taking to protect our seniors and staff, please email info@servingseniors.org. Information regarding future vaccination events will be shared on our website and social media platforms as we have it available.